… and no one got hurt.
Throughout 2025, Mass was celebrated ad orientem (facing the East) in nine parishes in the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, under the terms of an instruction issued by Bishop Daniel Felton.
Instruction
Regarding the Celebration of the Mass “ad orientem”
My Dear Brother Priests,
In our journey as disciples of Jesus, we are particularly blessed as Catholics to have the precious gift of the Holy Eucharist. As priests we count it as our highest privilege to celebrate the Mass and to nourish God’s people. As we all know, the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life (LG, 11; cf. CCC 1324), and as such it also must be a source of unity amongst us. Over the past few years, some priests in our diocese have initiated the celebration of the Ordinary Form of the Mass in English while adopting an “ad orientem” posture. This is the liturgical posture of facing the altar with an “eastern orientation” during the Liturgy of the Eucharist – ie. the priest and the people facing the same direction. This was the common practice of the celebration of Mass up until about fifty years ago. Priests have initiated the celebration of Mass in this manner after having a conversation with me, advising me of their reasons why, and providing an example of the catechesis that had been provided to the faithful. Others have begun this practice or expanded it without my knowledge.
As we all know, after the Second Vatican Council, it became common for the altar to be freestanding and the priest to face the people during the entire Mass in a posture called “versus populum”. Indeed, the current rubrics found in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (#299) advocate for this stating,
“The altar should be built separate from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable wherever possible.” The freestanding nature of the altar was established primarily to foster full and active participation in the Mass by allowing the people to view the liturgical action taking place at the altar. It must be stated that for most of the Catholic faithful, the past fifty years of liturgical practice and posture have been widely
received.
However, some have held that a certain “sense of transcendence” has been lost in the liturgy and that the unique role of the priest as mediator has been obscured by the current practice. Furthermore, it has also been contended that the liturgy could become “a circle turned in upon itself” and no longer focused on the worship of God. For some, a response to these trends has been the reintroduction of the liturgical
posture of “ad orientem” while celebrating the Mass. While it is true that the Roman Missal does not prohibit priests from celebrating the Mass in this manner, and acknowledging that this posture has ancient roots in liturgical history and has never been abrogated by the Church, nevertheless it is crucial that its application in our Diocese does not become a source of disunity or foster a spiritual or liturgical
elitism either among the priests or the faithful. Both postures merit mutual respect. Priests who desire to implement the “ad orientem” posture at Mass should agree not to denigrate a Mass celebrated facing the people, nor be dismissive of the priests or the people who have grown in holiness and love for the Mass facing the people. Likewise, those priests who prefer the Mass facing the people should not be dismissive of the priests or people who find spiritual fruitfulness in a Mass celebrated using an “ad orientem” posture and should be open and respectful to this.
Furthermore, in all that we do, we must foster a deeper sense of holiness among the people we serve …
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